<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effect of
acupuncture-
drug compound
anesthesia on immune function in
patients with
extracorporeal circulation undergoing
cardiac surgery.</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>Thirty cases undergoing
cardiac surgery which included
atrial septal defect neoplasty,
ventricular septal defect neoplasty,
mitral valve replacement and
pulmonary valve coarctotomy were randomly divided into group A and group B, 15 cases in each group. Group A was given
general anesthesia plus
acupuncture at Neiguan (PC 6), Lieque (LU 7) and Yunmen (LU 2), and group B was given simple
general anesthesia.
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (
TNF-alpha),
interleukin-2 (
IL-2) and
interleukin-10 (
IL-10) levels before and after
surgery were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The level of
TNF-alpha was increased and the levels of
IL-2 and
IL-10 in the
serum were decreased in both groups after
extracorporeal circulation for 2 h and 24 h, and the ranges of all changes were more less in group A (all P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compared with simple
general anesthesia,
acupuncture-
drug compound
anesthesia can improve immune
suppression partially in the
perioperative periods under the same conditions of controlling
anesthesia degree.</p>